Device for monitoring the transport process of flat despatches

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a device for monitoring the transport process of flat despatches with a sensor, a store and an evaluation device, in which the device, takes the form of a flat despatch having a number of different regions, especially rigid and flexible regions. According to the invention, the regions are formed in such a way that the device has comparable machine compatibility and solidity to ordinary despatches. The regions consist of component, stamping and franking ( 1 ), belt-running ( 2, 3 ), buffer and intake ( 4 ) and bend and fold regions ( 6 ).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of analysis and qualitycontrol of transporting processes, in which consignments are handled andtransported and in which parts of the handling operation, in particularsorting processes, are carried out mechanically.

A predominant field of use of the invention is the analysis and qualitycontrol of letter conveying and handling processes by means of objectivemeasurement data obtained directly in the process.

The invention relates, in the narrower sense, to so-called electronicletters, that is to say consignments with electronic components and withconventional letter formats capable of being handled mechanically. Suchapparatuses are capable of recording the physical quantities, such as,for example, acceleration, temperature, electric and magnetic fields,which act on them in their vicinity, of converting said quantities intoelectronic signals, and of processing these signals and storing them asdata and do not require any modifications of or additions to thetechnical equipment involved in the transport process and also do notinfluence the latter.

The evaluation of the data recorded from electronic letters makes itpossible to analyze the time profile of the transport of the electronicletter in the letter conveying and handling process. Consequently,precise conclusions as to whether regulations, rules and operatingparameters are being adhered to in the various steps of the letterconveying and handling process can be drawn and weak points found andanalyzed, and, therefore, if there are sufficiently large randomsamples, accurate data on the letter conveying and handling process canbe obtained. Letter handling machines are designed and set in such a waythat they handle an enormous number of letters with a high output andwith a high degree of reliability and effectiveness. The letters capableof being handled in this way are designated, here, as normal letters.They are defined by the following features:

The length and width dimensions correspond to those of standardizedletter formats or letter formats permitted by the national MailAdministrations or private mail services.

The thickness of the normal letter is often in the range up to 2 mm.Letters with a thickness of 5 to 6 mm are permitted for mechanicalhandling.

The thickness profile is constant over the entire normal letter anddecreases only in the edge regions.

The mass of the normal letter is usually lower than 20 g. However,because of the formats and letter thickness which can be used, masses of50 to 60 g are possible and are permitted for machine handling.

The density of the normal letter is uniform over the area.

The resilience of the letter surface is low since the letter usuallycontains paper.

Flexibility/pliability is uniform, anisotropic and high.

The area center of gravity and mass center of gravity of normal lettersare identical.

Normal letters do not undergo plastic deformation during mechanicalhandling.

Depending on the machine design, it is unimportant, for the normalletter, whether it is conveyed in a main or a secondary conveyingdirection.

In this case, the main conveying direction runs along the long edges ofthe letter format and the secondary conveying direction runs along itsshort edges.

Codes applied by letter handling machines by means of different printingmethods (for example, ink jet, thermal transfer) for the coding ofroutes are machine-readable.

In the preceding manual handling steps (preculling), normal letters arenot sorted out by the personnel operating the apparatus on the basis ofthe visual and tactile impression which they give.

An essential criterion for the technical evaluation of letters ismachine compatability. Normal letters are machine-compatible.

In addition to normal letters, letters are permitted for machinehandling which, in one or more instances, reach limiting rangesregarding their physical properties (for example, letter thickness,rigidity/pliability, mass center of gravity, mass), so that they aremachine-compatible to only a qualified extent, that is to say theirmachine compatibility is impaired. The result of this is that they aretaken out more often than normal letters or part functions of themachines are disrupted or not properly executed more often or lead togreater wear of particular parts of the machine. Moreover, the machinecompatibility of such letters depends particularly on the setting andthe state of maintenance of the machines.

This qualified machine compatibility is present, in particular, whenletters in widespread letter handling machines, more often than normalletters,

are separated out in format separating and setting-up machines onaccount of too great a thickness and/or rigidity

lead to jams in the letter run or at deflectors or at singling-outdevices or leave the conveying stage in an uncontrolled manner

lead to faults during stacking in stackers or compartments

have stamp imprints of impaired readability

have code imprints of impaired machine-readability

necessitate manual corrections of the stack in intermediate stackers

lead to increased wear of or damage to parts of the machines.

Furthermore, there are letters and other consignments which are alwaysseparated out manually before or mechanically at the start of handling(for example, in the format separating and setting-up region) on accountof their physical properties, for example dimensions, letter thickness,thickness profile, rigidity/pliability, mass center of gravity, mass.

A further essential criterion for the technical evaluation of letters,which applies particularly to electronic letters which aremachine-compatible, is machine resistance. This states to what extentand how often letters are damaged or destroyed during handling by themachine. In the case of normal letters, it is very rare that they are,for example, torn, ripped up or crumpled.

As regards electronic letters, it is obvious, by virtue of their makeup,that, if they do not have a stress-compliant design, it is possible moreoften that their functioning will be disrupted, they will be damaged,their service life may be reduced or they may be destroyed.

The following have a particularly adverse effect on the machineresistance of electronic letters:

belt pulling forces, jolt, shock and impact forces in the letter run inthe main conveying direction

belt pulling forces, jolt, shock and impact forces in the letter run inthe secondary conveying direction

bending forces at deflecting rollers and deflectors

accelerations during drawing off and singling out

braking accelerations during stacking in compartments, stackers orintermediate stackers

compressive forces during stamping.

So that the abovedescribed use of electronic letters is not subjected toany restrictions, they must be capable, without exception, of runningthrough all the part-processes, without being separated out fromindividual process steps, without their functioning being disrupted orwithout them even being destroyed. Separating out in individual processsteps would lead to a kind of further handling which is no longerrepresentative of the process to be investigated. The reliability ofdata recorded in this way and of the quality characteristics derivedfrom them would be restricted and, consequently, their value forassessing the quality of the letter conveying and handling process wouldbe diminished.

DE-A 42 38 102 has already disclosed an apparatus for determiningrunning times of letters, in which approximately ¾ of the entire area ofthe electronic letter consists of two rigid printed card parts which arearranged in such a way that the circuit and the power supply areexposed, relatively unprotected, to all the mechanical effects ofmachine handling and may easily be destroyed. The flexible parts extendover the entire width of the printed card parts. Due to the highmechanical demands during mechanical handling and stamping and becauseit does not have the necessary machine compatibility, in the same way asnormal letters, this apparatus does not possess any processingreliability over a relatively long period of time.

The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which behaves inthe same way as a normal paper letter in all the process steps of letterconveyance and handling and which can be handled by all conventionalletter handling machines and thus makes it possible to ensure that thedata obtained in the letter conveying and handling process are reliableand to increase functional reliability and service life.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above object generally is achieved according to the invention by anapparatus for monitoring the process of transporting flat consignments,with apparatus being designed as a flat consignment, and having a sensordevice, a memory device, an evaluation device and a power supply thatare located in one or more component zones designed as rigid regions,and in which apparatus: there are between the component zones flexiblebending and folding zones that have flexible padding material andflexible electric connecting elements for the components and that are inthe main transport direction, in each case, at least half as long as thelength of the largest adjoining component zone; there is a padded stampzone having a compressive strength adapted to the stamping pressures,with the stamp zone being capable of overlapping with other zones, inaddition to the component zones; there is a buffer and entry zone thatconsists of flexible padding material and that extends from thecircumferential edges of the apparatus as far as the component zones andthe bending and folding zones, with the thickness of the buffer andentry zones at the boundaries with the component zone and bending andfolding zone being approximately equal to the thickness of these zonesand the decreasing toward the circumferential edges; and the position ofthe component zones and the distribution of the masses over thecomponent zones are such that the positions of the mass center ofgravity and of the area center of gravity of the apparatus in relationto half the length and half the width of the apparatus differ from oneanother by no more than 6%. Advantageous embodiments of the inventionare specified in the subclaims.

The advantages of the apparatus according to the invention are to beseen, in particular, in its use under the extreme mechanical loadsoccurring during the machine handling of letters.

The apparatus is suitable for handling by conventional machines in thesame way as a normal letter and can also be integrated into otherformats by means of slight modifications. The machine resistance is suchthat the service life amounts, on average, to 2 years or can be exposedto 1000 runs through various conventionally used machines, without anyoperating faults.

The invention is based on the knowledge that it is not necessary toreproduce all the properties of normal letters completely on electronicletters, in order to achieve machine compatibility and machineresistance which are comparable to those of normal letters, but that itis sufficient, instead, to adhere to these properties only in definitesurface regions (designated below as zones).

The invention is described in more detail below with reference to thedrawings:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the zone division for an apparatus according to theinvention in a schematic longitudinal sectional view.

FIGS. 2a and 2 b are schematic top plan and cross-sectional views,respectively of an apparatus according to the invention with three rigidcomponents.

FIGS. 3a and 3 b are schematic top plan and cross-section views,respectively of an apparatus according to the invention with four rigidcomponents.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The apparatus according to the invention has at least one sensor device,one memory device and one evaluation device.

The stamp zone 1 in FIG. 1 should not be overlapped by a component zone,since the hard edges of the component zone may damage the stampingmechanisms. The stamp zone must be large enough to ensure that allconventional stamps, including the advertising block, can be appliedthere.

The stamp zone is 1 composed of a suitable flexible padding material ofclosed-cell foam with a density of 45 kg/m³ and a crushing resistanceaccording to DIN 53577 at 40% compression of between 65 and 95 kPa witha predominantly constant thickness. This material is selected speciallyfor these requirements in view of its compressive strength. The stampzone may also, in parts, be of steplike or wedgelike design,particularly when it is necessary to have an overlap with a buffer andentry zone. The stamp imprint applied to the envelope by means of all“commercially available” stamping devices must be easily readable, thatis to say the padding material should not be too soft. The paddingmaterial must tolerate at least 1000 stampings, with a typical force ofup to 300 N applied to a rolling stamp with a diameter of 28 mm, withoutappreciably and permanently changing its process-relevant properties,that is to say crushing resistance, flexibility, uniformity or itsthickness.

In conventional letter handling machines, particularly inhigh-performance machines employed by national Mail Administrations ormail services, belts or bands with a width of 20 to 140 mm are typicallyused in the so-called letter run, in which the letter is conveyed, forexample, by the action of transport belts, transport bands and/orrollers. In this case, belt forces act, via different looping angles(typically 1 to 30 degrees) at the deflecting rollers on the transportedletters and therefore also on the electronic letter. Both rigid belts orbands, sometimes with a separate pulling layer, and elastic belts orbands having different widths are employed. The electronic letterlikewise experiences bending, folding, vibrational, impact and joltingstresses in the letter run.

If the belt width used is so large that the entire electronic letter isencompassed by the belt, that is to say the belt running zone (2) inFIG. 1 covers all the other zones, then it is sufficient if thethickness profile is designed in such a way that it descends toward theletter edges, as may also be gathered from the properties of the bufferand edge zone.

However, letter handling machines which convey the consignments in theletter run between 35 mm wide belts in the main transport direction arein the most widespread use throughout the world at national MailAdministrations and at mail services. In this case, typical letterformats, for example, the DIN formats C6 and DL or the American format#10, are transported approximately centrally between the belts. The DINformat DL is also the format of the exemplary embodiments of theelectronic letter. The forces acting on the electronic letter in theletter run are transmitted to it by these predominantly 35 mm widebelts. This region of the letter is therefore also designated as themain belt running zone 3.

In order to protect the elements in the component zones by distributingthe acting forces uniformly over the entire belt running zone, it istherefore necessary to keep the thickness profile in this regioncompletely or predominantly constant. Exceptions to this are overlapswith buffer and entry zones.

A buffer and entry zone 4 in FIG. 1 extends from one edge of theelectronic letter as far as a parallel edge of a rectanglecircumscribing a component zone. Said buffer and entry zone 4 ismanufactured from flexible padding material which has appropriatecrushing resistance, so that, particularly during machine stacking, noeffects untypical of letters, such as, for example, rebound fromcompartment or stack walls, occur. Furthermore, the buffer and entryzones 4 provided with a wedgelike or steplike thickness profile preventimpairments, in particular when letters are being singled out or elseduring separating out in terms of thickness and rigidity, since, heretoo, a “smoother” entry, that is to say an entry more akin to that of apaper letter, is ensured.

The thickness of the buffer and entry zone 4 is equal to that of thecomponent zone at the boundary with the latter.

If the increase in the thickness profile, ideally assumed to be a wedge,is, on average, lower than or equal to 1:3, this ensures that noimpairments occur.

This means that, in the case of a predominantly constant thicknessprofile of the component zone 5 of 4 mm, the buffer and entry zone 4must be at least 12 mm wide. A minority of the letter handling machinesemployed throughout the world at the present time convey consignments ina secondary conveying direction. Furthermore, particularly in formatseparating machines, consignments are sometimes transported undesirablyin the secondary conveying direction on account of the stochasticprocess of setting up the letters. For these reasons, the electronicletter has buffer and entry zones 4 not only on the narrow sides, butcontinuously on all four sides.

A component zone 5 in FIG. 1 contains electronic elements, including thepower supply, which are necessary for performing the actual function ofthe electronic letter.

A component zone 5 is defined, as compared with the normal letter, inthat it is not pliable, but rigid, and in that the thickness profile ispredominantly greater than 2 mm and may locally reach 5 mm.

In distributing the masses over the component zones 5 and placing thesein the electronic letter, it is necessary for the mass center of gravityto be identical to the area center of gravity. However, deviations ofthe mass center of gravity of 6% in relation to the respective half edgelength of the letter format, in the case of a total mass ofapproximately 30 g, do not yet lead to the impairment of machinecompatibility.

The component zone 5 should not overlap with parts of the stamp zone 1or of the buffer and entry zone 4, so as to protect the electronicelements against the extreme mechanical loads in these regions.

The dimensions of the circumscribing rectangle of a component zone 5having any desired shape are restricted by the selected letter formatand by adherence to the properties of the stamp zone 1, buffer and entryzone 4 and bending and folding zone 6.

The edge length which is parallel to the main transport direction isalso restricted by the rigidity or combined thickness and rigidityouttake which is customary in letter handling machines. In the case ofthe predominant thickness profile of 4 mm of the component zone, andwith an edge length of up to 40 mm, machine compatibility is notimpaired on account of increased separating out rates, as compared withnormal letters.

On account of the dynamic behavior of the thickness and rigidity outtakecarried out in known letter handling plants, thicknesses ofapproximately 4 mm and edge lengths of the component zones from 60 mmresult, without doubt, in the impairment of machine compatibility and inincreased outlay to achieve the necessary machine resistance, which, inturn, lead to a further reduction in machine compatibility, for exampledue to increased thickness or mass.

Machine resistance can be achieved, for example when rigid printed cardsare used and the SMD (Surface Mounted Device) technology is employed inadhering to the abovementioned dimension, in particular by sealinginvolving a low outlay, instead of by complete capping or housing.

If regions of the component zone 5 project beyond the size of thepredominant thickness profile (for example, 4 mm), the edge length ofthese regions must be shortened correspondingly.

The edge length of the component zone 5, said edge length being parallelto the secondary transport direction, may be up to 25% longer than theedge running parallel to the main transport direction, without machinecompatibility or machine resistance being impaired.

If button cells are arranged in a component zone for supplying power tothe electronic letter and if these button cells have to be changed inthe letter plane perpendicularly to the surface normal of the letter,the orifice of the battery holder must be placed parallel to the maintransport direction. Thus, during acceleration and, in particular,during impactlike braking (for example, machine destacking intocompartments or into stacking devices), mass inertia forces do not actin the direction of the battery slot and therefore do not act counter tothe spring forces which fix the battery in the battery holder.Displacement of the battery in the direction of the battery slot and theresulting possible separation of the electric contacts are prevented.

Two adjacent component zones 5 in each case are separated by a bendingand folding zone 6 in FIG. 1. Bending and folding zones 6 have the taskof ensuring that the electronic letter has the flexibility necessary inmechanical letter handling. The electronic letter then appears “to themachine” like a normal letter, that is to say, for example in mechanicalrigidity outtake, said letter is not taken out as being too rigid. Thesezones 6 ensure that the resultant forces and moments, which occur as aresult of the deflection of the belts at deflecting rollers and act onthe electronic letter, do not become too great, and that, in particular,increased lever effects, with bending moments resulting from these, donot act on the component zones. The connecting elements for the twocomponent zones are also contained in said bending and folding zone. Thepliability and reversed bending fatigue of the connecting elements mustbe greater than or equal to those of the padding material in the bendingand folding zone.

The thickness of the bending and folding zone 6 is, at the boundary withthe component zone 5, equal to that of this component zone and greaterthan or equal to that of the enclosed connecting elements.

Outside the main belt zone 3, thickness differences are compensated in awedgelike or steplike manner. Within the main belt zone, the thicknessprofile must be kept predominantly constant.

With regard to the main transport direction, from an edge length of thebending and folding zone 6 which is greater than or equal to half thelength of the largest adjoining component zone edge, there is sufficientmachine compatibility.

The printer zone 7 in FIG. 1 is a special zone where the letter surfacehas reduced resilience, so that destination information can also beapplied, without loss of information, by means of contacting stylusprinting devices and is machine-readable. These printing devices areused in selected letter handling machines.

Printer zones 7 may be located on the entire surface of the letter.Their exact position and size depend on the standards of national MailAdministrations or private mail services. The required resilience of thesurface is achieved by the selection of a suitable padding material and,if necessary, an additional firm foil in regions of buffer and entryzones and the bending and folding zone. If the buffer and entry zone issufficiently large, it is also possible to use only the firm foil. Inany event, the necessary flexibility of the buffer and entry zones orbending and folding zones should not be appreciably reduced. The printerzone 7 may also partially overlap component zones 5. However, in theregion of the transitions from the component zone to printer zone, thisresults in an impairment of the print quality, that is to say of machinecompatibility.

Electric connections between component zones are designed as helicalsprings which have the pliability, reversed bending fatigue andfoldability which are necessary for machine compatibility, in particularat the transitions between component zone and folding and bending zone.

For electronic letters which are machine-compatible andmachine-resistant and therefore have a long service life, these helicalsprings are covered, in the region of the bending and folding zone, witha sufficiently pliable and firm tube consisting, for example, ofsilicone.

A further possibility for the connection of rigid components is the useof rigid/flexible printed cards. If the rigid components are positionedalong the main conveying direction, sufficient machine resistance of theconnections of the electronic letter is achieved, particularly at thetransitions from the rigid to the flexible regions of the printed card,when the connecting leads leave the rigid parts of the printed cards atthe edges lying parallel to the main conveying direction, and, fromthere, preferably perpendicularly thereto.

The exemplary embodiment 1 according to FIGS. 2a and 2 b describes asolution of a machine-compatible and machine-resistant electronic letterfor the standard format DL. This exemplary embodiment contains thefollowing three component zones:

printed board 21

two battery compartments 22

An essential criterion for distributing the component zones in thearrangement is, in addition to the abovedescribed general requirementsof a zone division for machine-compatible and machine-resistantelectronic letters, the production of two print zones 26 havingpredetermined positional orientations and dimensions. Since an overlapof the printer zones 26 with component zones is to be avoided, theeccentric position of the printed board 21 is defined by thepredetermined arrangement of the upper printer zone. The identity of themass center of gravity and area center of gravity within a sufficienttolerance band is achieved by the selected position of the other twocomponent zones 22 of the battery compartments, and it must beremembered that the maximum height of the top edge of the rightcomponent zone is likewise defined by the position of the upper printerzone. By means of this arrangement, in the case of a dimensioning of theprinted board of 35 mm×42 mm, a sufficiently large stamp zone, with anupper printer zone included, can be achieved.

The description of the exemplary embodiment according to FIGS. 3a and 3b applies accordingly to the design of the buffer and entry zones.

The upper printer zone is formed by a firm foil in the region of thebending and folding zone between the central component zone 21 and theright component zone 22, said foil being applied additionally to thefoam padding surrounding the component zones and said foil projectinginto the right buffer and entry zones.

Since the lower buffer and entry zone is sufficiently large, the lowerprinter zone is formed by a firm foil without any foam padding. Thissolution ensures that the necessary flexibility of the buffer and entryzones and of the bending and folding zones is not appreciably reduced bythe predetermined printer zones.

The electronic letter has a mass, including the two batteries, ofapproximately 30 g. The thickness profile in the main belt zone isconstant at approximately 4.5 mm. The thickness profile of theelectronic components is compensated by sealing with a semiflexiblefiller, on the one hand, and with a filler of low density, on the otherhand. The bending and folding zones are formed, within the main beltzone, by a foam padding, the thickness of which correspondsapproximately to that of the component zones. A functionally essentialproperty of the selected foam is a low residual compression strain, thatis to say up to 10% in the case of 20% deformation for 48 hours with 30minutes expansion.

In the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 3, an electronic letter isconstructed for the standard format DL. A design criterion is that theelectronic elements be distributed over four component zones havingapproximately the same area. The batteries to be used from a functionalpoint of view predetermine the smallest area required for a rigidcomponent. The battery holders 32 are designed in such a way that theyonly insignificantly increase the area requirement and the dimensions oftheir edge lengths are not critical with regard to the outtake behaviorof known thickness and rigidity outtakes. The battery holders 32 areplaced centrally symmetrically in the outer regions of the letter.Consequently, the number of connecting leads is minimized and theidentity of the area center of gravity and mass center of gravity isensured. The orifice for changing the batteries 37 is parallel to themain conveying direction and makes it possible to change the batteriesin the letter plane. The remaining electronic elements are distributedover two further component zones in such a way as to produce as large astamp zone as possible, cf. 1 in FIG. 1, the number of necessaryconnecting leads 35 is minimized and the mass center of gravity differsonly noncritically from the area center of gravity. The width of thesecomponent zones 31, each of 35 mm, differs only insignificantly fromthat of the battery holders and consequently allows an equaldistribution of the rigid components over the letter width, minus thetwo buffer and entry zones at the end faces. The resulting bending andfolding zones 36 have a width of 17 mm. The width ratio to the componentzone (≦0.5) is not critical with regard to the dynamic behavior of thethickness and rigidity outtake carried out in known letter handlingplants.

The buffer and entry zones 33 at the end faces of the letter are ofstepped design and, with the width of the adhesive fold of the coveringfoil of 4 mm (approximately 0.5 mm thick), a 2 mm thick padding materialwith a width of 6 mm and a 4 mm thick composite padding material with awidth of 6 mm, reach the height of the battery holders of approximately4 mm in the case of a total width of 16 mm. On account of the low-heightof the rigid components, the buffer and entry zones can have anoncritical width.

The electronic letter has a mass, including the two batteries, ofapproximately 36 g. The thickness profile in the main belt zone isconstant at approximately 4.5 mm. The thickness profile of theelectronic components is compensated by sealing with a semiflexiblefiller, on the one hand, and with a filler of low density, on the otherhand. The print zone 36 is formed at this point by modifying the bufferand entry zone. For this purpose, the padding material in the region ofthe print zone is replaced by a foil having sufficient flexibility and afirm surface.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for monitoring the process oftransporting flat consignments, said apparatus being designed as a flatconsignment, with a sensor device, a memory device, an evaluation deviceand a power supply which are located in one or more component zonesdesigned as rigid regions, in which apparatus there are between thecomponent zones flexible bending and folding zones which have flexiblepadding material and flexible electric connection elements for thecomponents and which are in a ain transport direction, in each case, atleast half as long as the length of the largest adjoining componentzone, there is a padded stamp zone having a compressive strength adaptedto the stamping pressures, said stamp zone being capable of overlappingwith outer zones, in addition to the component zones, there is a bufferand entry zone which consists of flexible padding material and whichextends from the circumferential edges of the apparatus as far as thecomponent zones and the bending and folding zones, with the thickness ofthe of the buffer and entry zone at the boundaries with the componentzones and bending and folding zone being approximately equal to thethickness of these zones and decreasing toward the circumferentialedges, the position of the component zones and the distribution of themasses over the component zones are such that the positions of the masscenter of gravity and of the area center of gravity of the apparatus inrelation to half the length and half the width of the apparatus differfrom one another by no more than 6%.
 2. The apparatus as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the thickness decrease of the buffer and entry zone (4)is lower than or equal to 1:3 over the length.
 3. The apparatus asclaimed in claim 2, wherein rigid/flexible printed cards are provided aselectric connections between the component zones.
 4. The apparatus asclaimed in claim 1, wherein there is a belt running zone which containsat least a rigid component zone and bending and folding zones, theregion with the component zones and bending and folding zones having anapproximately constant thickness profile.
 5. The apparatus as claimed inclaim 1, wherein a pliability and reversed bending fatigue of theflexible electric connecting elements is greater than or equal to thepliability and reversed bending fatigue of the padding material.
 6. Theapparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein one or more printer zones ofreduced resilience are provided, so that information can be applied tothe surface of the apparatus by contacting printing devices.
 7. Theapparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein helical springs are provided aselectric connections between the component zones.